agencies
Rio de Janeiro, August 16: Shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth continued their dream run in the Olympics here by reaching the quarterfinals of the women’s and men’s singles respectively.
Sindhu defeated eighth-seeded Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying 21-13, 21-15 in a 40-minute clash. She will next meet second-seeded China’s Wang Yihan, the London Olympics silver-medallist.
In men’s singles Kidambi Srikanth edged past Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark. World No.11 Srikanth defeated World No.5 Jorgensen 21-19, 21-19 in 42 minutes at Rio Centrio here. This was the 23-year-old Indian’s second win over the European champion in four matches.
Sindhu, who had a 2-4 record against Tzu prior to the match here, opened up a 3-1 lead early on and even though Tai came back to draw level at 5-5, the Indian managed to lead 11-6 at the break.
The Hyderabadi shuttler then won a video referral to reach game point at 20-13 and then pocketed it comfortably with Tai hitting wide. After the change of ends, Sindhu continued to play in an aggressive manner. She managed to build up an 11-6 lead again at the break.
Tai tried to take away the pace from the rallies and came up with a few down the line smashes. But that was not enough. Sindhu continued to build her lead and took it to 17-11.
A couple of drop shots deflected by the net chord took Sindhu to 19-12 before Tai sent one to the net to gift eight match points to the Indian. Tai saved three match points before another shot which went long saw Sindhu in the quarters.
“It’s a good victory, also in the morning Srikanth has won, so it’s a great moment on the Independence Day. I am sure we will give our best in the quarterfinals,” Sindhu told reporters.
“It will be tough, not easy (tie against Yihan). I have to give my best. I will discuss the strategy with my coach. I’ve played against her long ago, but it’s been a long gap,” the Indian shuttler informed.
Talking about her match against Tai, Sindhu said: “I was basically alert for every shot. There was no particular strategy. Overall I am satisfied.”
Srikanth’s bodyline smashes did the trick for him in both the games against Jorgensen. He was also patient and waited for the opportune moment to use the smashes judiciously.”
In the quarterfinals, Srikanth will face an enormous task of beating two-time defending champion and five-time World Champion Lin Dan of China.
